A Few Beers With Merv HughesTag | First Published: September 2007

1. Name, age, partner and where’s home?

Merv Hughes, 45 years old, soon too be 46. Married to the gorgeous Sue and we live in Essendon, but Werribee is home.

2. Your first fishing memory or first fish?

Probably as a little tacker at Apollo Bay. Dad used to go up in the hills to a mate’s farm to help out and have a few beers. He’d give me a stick with about 4 foot of string with a bent nail tied to the end and send me down the creek which was about a half an inch deep and about 5 inches wide. He’d tell me if I was patient I would catch something and I used to believe him. I was 17 at the time! Nah, I was actually 3 or 4.

3. Your favourite fishing style?

When I get sick of throwing lures, bottom bouncing sounds like a plan. I love it all.

4. How many days a year you fish?

Nowhere near enough, maybe 20 or 25 days a year.

5. Your favourite fishing memory/moment?

Nude fishing in the dark at Bynoe Harbour in Northern Territory. A long but very funny story!

6. Your favourite fishing destination/s?

Port Phillip Bay, aboard the SS Bounty, with good friend Captain "sinks like a" Bligh, dropping a line in the Maribyrnong River chasing bream with my two boys. Trying to snag a marlin off Port Stephens with Ross Hunter. In Cal’s dam in central Victoria on the redfin. Or fishing off the rocks after anything that pops its head up. Or even chasing rainbow trout in Uncle Frank’s dam at Apollo Bay with brother in-law Shaun - I love it all.

7. Who are your top five cricketers you played with or against in international cricket?

I’ll only mention those I played with and No. 1 with daylight in front of them all is Allan Border. The others in no particular order are David Boon, Ian Healy, Shane Warne and Steve Waugh. But there were plenty of others who were fantastic, talented or just good fellas, some were even all three.

8. What do you see for future of Australian fishing?

If people do the right thing and only take what they can eat, it will all be good.

9. Now you are an Aussie selector how has this big step back into cricket been? And are you teaching the newkids on the block a trick or two? Or purely selecting?

I never really got out of it (cricket). I help were I can and I am really enjoying my involvement with this fantastic team. They’re the best for a reason.

10. Who are the five most influential in regards to your fishing?

My dad was the most influential. He set me up in the early days. Doug Jennings taught me the blood knot when I was 9, and said it was the "Only knot you need to tie". Ken Stone, for his passion. Wayne Lennon, Dave Silva, Tony Bennett, Barefoot Dave Hodge, Karl Fedke, for their knowledge. And Bill Classon, Rex Hunt, Paul Worsling and Lee Rayner for their encouragement through TV, books and magazine articles. A few more than five, but they have all helped or influenced my fishing.